


Sometimes the Best Way Forward is to Go Back

by Wallaroo21



Series: Angsty Infinity War fics [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Infinity Stones Are Sentient, JARVIS is a good bro, Team Tony, The Soul Stone is Not Horrible, Theory for End of Infinity War, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony's Terrified But Gonna Try Anyway, Why do I do this to myself, everyone's dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 07:52:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13806807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallaroo21/pseuds/Wallaroo21
Summary: Thanos is gone, but Tony's Vision that triggered the creation of Ultron has come to its sad fruition, with some unfortunate additions. All seems lost. However, when the Soul Stone detects one last Soul amongst the wreckage, the next thing to do seems quite obvious.That is, if She can actually convince him. She just might have what he needs the most.





	Sometimes the Best Way Forward is to Go Back

**Author's Note:**

> Originally on Tumblr
> 
> This is one of those one-shots I tend to write on one of my darker days. I really don't have much to say about it other than that I thought it was worth sharing amongst all of the other angsty Infinity War prediction fics. 
> 
> Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you thought about it at the end.

**_“You could have saved us. Why didn’t you do more?”_ **

That was the question he had been trying to answer since Ultron. He had tried to prepare for the inevitable by inventing, building, then improving. He wasn’t the only genius in the world, but he seemed to be the only futurist of them that cared to face the unknown, no matter how terribly his hands would tremble. He had been recruiting and negotiating with people, to bring them together as a united front, to face the horrors that the galaxy had to offer. 

And then the Accords and Siberia happened. By his own mistakes and the grievances of others, Tony Stark was very much alone.

Again.

At first, he had tried to hate those who had “deceived and betrayed” him, to allow the anger to burn and fuel his determination. In the end, his efforts to do so were fruitless. It’s extremely hard to steer hate towards others when the majority of it is already dedicated to hating oneself. Tony knew what he had done wrong and his part in the splitting up of the Avengers. He wasn’t stupid, he was well aware of the vigilante group his rogue teammates had formed elsewhere in the world. The fact that they were breaking numerous international laws wasn’t what annoyed Tony in the end.

What annoyed him was that a huge part of him wanted to be with them.

But alas, he never did pick up that bloody cellphone until Rogers had texted him with a very simple question: Do you need us?

And Tony had answered: Always.

* * *

One particularly devastating series of cluster fucks later, the Avengers, Guardians and whoever else was brave enough had succeeded in taking Thanos down. He wasn’t dead, but thanks to the combined efforts of Strange and Loki, the Space Stone had backfired on the Mad Titan, sending him to the every edge of the galaxy, weakened and sans Infinity Gauntlet. The threat was over….for now at least.

But…at what cost?

The Gauntlet was in a stasis, hovering in it’s own power, the light of which produced an illusion of a pedestal, making it the centre of a pure nightmare. It was like a sun which possessed rings of devastation, the bodies of fallen heroes laid and poised in the round. The further away the Gauntlet’s light, the bigger the blanket of darkness that draped the martyrs became. They were nothing more than fallen metaphors, a shell of the determination that once fired in their no longer beating hearts.

The majority had been taken out in the final blast that had lead Thanos to his temporary doom. The Soul Stone, however, could still detect one last, flickering life form in the furthest ring of devastation, slightly buried in a crater created quite early in the final battle. The Stone glimmered in interest; who was the last remaining if all the others were already absorbed and locked within her power? She wanted to pitch the question to her fellow Stones, but she could feel their annoyance at being abandoned and no longer being used. 

No, this inquiry was something she would have to partake in alone.

It wasn’t long before the subject of her interest came to, the being struggling to pull himself out from under the debris. She could feel his confusion and physical pain, his metal-clad body slowly making it’s way to feeble freedom. Ah, of course it would just have to be the human that seems to jest in the face of death over and over again. The one known to the galaxy as Anthony Edward Stark, AKA Iron Man.

* * *

Over with said individual, with a thick rub of his eyes after collapsing his broken helmet back, Tony could finally see again, his vision adjusting to the new visual circumstances. What he saw was the exact scene that had fuelled his night terrors for many years, with a few additions.

They were dead. They were all dead, Tony realised with awakening horror. He immediately felt tight in his chest, his breathing quickened to a dangerous pace and the armour he had once used as a defence mechanism became extremely claustrophobic. He staggered to his feet, fumbling forward a few steps while simultaneously pressing a pattern into the arc reactor with his fingers. The suit transformed back into the hoodie and tracksuit pants ensemble which Tony took as a cue to collapse back onto his knees.

_Oh God. Oh God. Oh God._

He huddled into himself.

_They’re dead. They’re dead. They’re dead._

Clasping his fingers together didn’t stop the trembling.

_Why did you let this happen?_

The guilt came pouring out with his tears.

_You could have saved us. Why didn’t you do more?_

“I tried,” he wept, unable to look up, “I tried so hard, but in the end…”

_I’m the man who killed the Avengers._

**“Now that’s quite enough, Man of Iron.”**

What the hell? Gasping, Tony shot out of his reverie, glistening brown eyes desperately scanning for the sound of that voice, so stern, yet calm. Several moments later, his emotionally fried mind managed to decipher that the voice had not been out in the open, but within himself.

“Who are you?” he whimpered.

**“I am the entity that Know’s and See’s….not all….but most,”** the voice said, seeming to take time with it’s words, calculating, **”And what I See in you, I certainly do not appreciate. I’ve Seen broken and damaged Souls before, but never have I seen one so badly shattered by it’s own possessor. Enough is enough.** ”

And the Gauntlet lit up brighter than ever before, finally catching Tony’s attention, bathing him in a dense orange light. He was momentarily blinded, preventing him from realising that the Gauntlet was making it’s way over to him. 

He panicked, lurching into his unsteady legs as the Gauntlet came closer to his proximity. Tony staggered backwards, crying out, screaming, “No! Stay away from me! Stay back, please!”

The Gauntlet, unsurprisingly, ignored him, simply continuing on it’s floating journey.

“Please don’t! I can’t touch! I can’t have….,” Tony continued back away, “Please…” Suddenly, Tony could go no further, his back roughly slamming into rock behind him. He cowered into the rough surface, face turning away from the Gauntlet’s glow, “What do you want from me? What could I possibly have that you want?”

**“There is a price for everything, but we will get to that,”**  the Voice responded softly, noticeably feminine, **”We have our uses and I wish to offer them to you. They will not mind my brashness. They care not as long as they are not stuck in stasis. Any user is a good user.”**

“No! I-I couldn’t possibly-”

**“But look around, is this not the vision which has plagued you for so long?”**

“…..Yes,” admitted Tony. He braced himself and turned back to look directly at the Gauntlet. All Stones had dimmed with the exception of the Soul Stone. It- _She_  must be the speaker.

**“A mere few minutes ago, you were wallowing in your self-guilt over your inability. We can provide you exactly that.”** encouraged the Soul Stone, giving a flickering glimmer that Tony took to mean reassurance, **“We hold no bias, Man of Iron. The fluidity of our powers bends to no one’s agenda, we merely adapt as we are needed. It seems you are in most need of us at this moment.”**

Tony couldn’t stop himself from nodding in agreement. Even then, he retorted, “That’s true, but it doesn’t mean I should. I’m confused though…It was made clear to me that a mortal cannot wield such power-”

**“Such a statement is crafted by fools,”** snarked the Soul Stone, **”And you are foolish to believe it even after witnessing Stephen Strange wielding my Brother of Time without a problem. You cannot physically touch us as a celestial or god can, but if you have enough will and courage, we have no objection to listening.”**

Tony considered the Stones words for a moment, staring down at his shoes, taking in the dust and grime. 

**“All you need is a vessel to contain us. Your armour would do well.”**

“I just…I don’t think I could do it…That I should do it. Go back in time and start all of this again?”

**“You doubt our abilities?”  
**

“No, I doubt mine. I screw up nearly everything I touch. Even if I have the gift of foresight, who’s to say I won’t just make everything even worse?”

**“You are needlessly doubting yourself again…”**

“I have the track record to back me up.”

**“Anthony Stark, are you not a mechanic? A tinkerer?”**  the Soul Stone was beginning to sound rather frustrated now, **“You throw yourself into building your armour and technology with no abandon, why could you not build a timeline with the same efficiency and grace?**

“With my tech, I know what I’m doing. The variables of… _constructing_  a new timeline….”

**“Is no different of a risk, simply on a far larger scale.”**

“The biggest scale of all. Literal lives are at stake. If I were to mess up, people would die.”

**“And this is better?”**

Tony would swear until the day he died thatif the Stone had a physical body, that question would have been accompanied by a gesture to the devastation surrounding him. Taking in a shuddering breath, he shot a glance towards the nearest body, Steve Rogers staring out into the abyss of the galaxy, the shield Tony had returned to him shattered in multiple pieces. A few feet away, Clint and Natasha were draped over each other, having wrestled to cover each other in the wake of the final blast.

In his mind’s eye, Tony could remember the final moments of the kid he had grown so fond of, Peter Parker’s rasping breaths finally receding as he died in Tony’s arms. So young.

So many of them….

“No, this isn’t better….”

**“Well then?”**  the Stone pressed.

“I guess…there’s nothing else to do….but try…” Tony finally conceded with a frown. He momentarily paused, following a random train of thought, “But you mentioned a price…”

**“Indeed I did.”**

“What is it?”

**“It’s a simple trade,”**  reassured the Soul Stone **,”Resetting the timeline of everything that has been is no small feat even for us. Personally, I stand to lose the power of the souls that have fallen due to this conflict. I can handle the loss, but I will want compensation. The trade is simple, Anthony Stark:the chance to rescue those souls…..in exchange for your own.”**

Tony knew it would be something along those lines, but the thought still left him momentarily frozen in place, “You want my soul? But you said it was shattered, why would you want it?”

“ **It’s shattered, but the pieces have yet to disappear from your being,”** the Stone clarified, **”Your soul is amendable, just like the timeline through our influence. Should you succeed in your mission, I will piece you back together, than make you my own. Bring you into me. I assure you, there is no greater form of rest or peace”**

“Rest…”

**“Yes, Anthony, rest.”**

* * *

Several minutes later, Tony was once more in his armour, but this time, there were six new power sources. The Stones had willingly detached themselves from the Gauntlet, the Power and Space Stones now on either shoulder, the Mind and Reality Stones on his hips, the Time Stone on his stomach and the Soul Stone taking the spot of honour, replacing the arc reactor in the centre of his chest.

**“You’ve made a wise choice, Man of Iron. By providing the galaxy with peace, you will in turn, finally find your own.”**

Tony merely nodded, steeling himself for what was ahead, eyes shut tight. Never again would he have to see all of his friends dead, for that is what they were, no matter what had come between them. The man Tony had been before Afghanistan would have scoffed at the thought of giving up his own life for those he cared about. That Tony was an idiot. The Tony he was now wasn’t much better, but at least he knew this one could improve. It was time to prove himself.

**“Let us proceed.”**

With a blinding light that stunted all of his senses, a great power reverberated around Tony’s body, spinning outwards, then pulling in, engulfing the mortal completely. The last thing Tony knew was a feeling of great relief before blacking out entirely.

* * *

It was his sense of smell that came back to Tony first, the scent of grease and metal immediately calming him down from the adrenaline rush. Over a matter of minutes, he could eventually feel the cold steel under his arms and recognise that he seemed to be bent over on some type of table.As he opened his eyes, his spatial awareness kicked in just in time for his hearing to finally register an extremely familiar voice calling to him.

“Sir?”

Tony groaned and started to wearily stretch his body out.

“Sir, I don’t understand what just occurred. You just appeared out of nowhere with the flash of a bright light, but my scanners failed to detect any energy signatures from said light.”

“Of course not, JARVIS, Infinity Stones don’t-….wait….J-JARVIS?”

“Sir? I don’t understand the confusion. Who else would it be?”

Tony, completely startled, began to take in his surroundings. He was sitting at a desk in a rather large workshop/garage. Expensive equipment was set up in the messy way that only made sense to Tony, a set of stairs lead to the rest of the mansion above, gorgeous sports cars were lined up against a wall of windows overlooking a wonderful view of the ocean.

It was Malibu. It was familiar. It was  _home_.

“Holy shit,” Tony couldn’t help the huge grin that spread across his face in the revelation. There was one question that needed to be asked though, “J, this is going to sound odd, but can you give me the time and date?”

“It’s 9am,1st of May, 2008,” promptly replied JARVIS, “Miss Potts notified me to remind you that you have the flight to Afghanistan to partake in this afternoon.”

“To present the Jericho missile, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

Tony gave a harsh laugh, “Yeah, buddy, not gonna happen. No fucking way. Here’s what we’re going to do instead-”

“But, Sir-”

“Get in contact with SHIELD and alert them to Uncle Obie’s hit order on my life. Hack his computer and phone, grab all the evidence you can. Then, alert the media to a press conference, Stark Industries will not be making weapons from here on out.”

“Sir,are you high again? Did Miss Everheart slip something in your drink that I can’t detect?”

“No buddy. Let’s just say….the future isn’t going to save itself. Are you with me?”

“With you, Sir? Always. Even if you’re not making any sense.”

“Love you too, J.”


End file.
